Shanghai Daily News

Shan Chuanlun has become famous as the "grape king" of Jiading District as his business has blossomed from a small operation in Malu Town to a city-wide concern.

In 1976 when he arrived in Shanghai, the Shandong Province native was a total novice at planting grapes. At the time, he never would have imagined that the fruit would become his career.

But Shan had a good opportunity to learn as when he first came to the city, he was hired by Jiading District to manage a local orchard in Malu. Here he learned about the plant through a great deal of study.

"Many experts have said that grapes cannot grow well in the south because of the different climate as compared with the north," Shan said. "However, I proved them wrong."

The 62-year-old said that his hometown, Xintai, was the most famous grape growing region in the country. To learn some planting skills, he returned home to acquire skills that he could bring back to Malu.

With the different climates - the south being warmer and wetter; the north colder and drier - Shan began to conduct research on how to find a correct planting method.

"It has been a long path of exploration and adventure," the tanned and healthy-looking Shan said. "At the beginning, I stayed on the farm all day for a whole year to do research."

"Grapes are a kind of fruit which is relatively easy to grow. I wanted to find a proper planting method to increase the annual harvest."

With that in mind, he went to the library and began to study many different books on agriculture and farming. Also, he frequently visited some experts in the city and explained his difficulties to them.

In 1983, the district decided to grow grapes on a large scale to immediate success. It was a good growing season with a big harvest which brought the farmers 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million) in profit for the year.

Caught up in the fever, Malu residents soon went crazy for the fruit with the majority of its farmers deciding to plant grapes the following year. Shan became a leader in the community and shared some new planting methods with the residents.

Malu farmers increased their annual income three-fold to about 50,000 yuan. Most of the villas in the town were realized through grape sales.

In the past 30 years, Shan has planted 42 types of grapes in Malu. He also invented some special varieties himself with "Fuge" being one of them. It contains chromium, a type of metal property which is considered good for diabetes.

"Fuxi" also has health benefits. It is proved to have more selenium, an element which is believed to prevent cancer and heart disease. With such benefits, the grapes are very popular in local markets and sell out quickly.

"Our grapes should be healthy and nutritious," Shan said. "I often tell my colleges that the pesticides they use should be as little as possible. It is not good for people's health. However, I'm sorry to say that many grapes in the market use accelerated ripening processes. That's not good."

During this two-hour interview, Shan's mobile rang constantly for his grape business. Because of their good taste and high quality, his grapes are also very popular in the market, despite being twice as expensive than normal grapes - averaging 15 to 40 yuan per kilogram.

The grape leader said that he would retire at 66 and then let his son handle the business. "I want to spread my grape business from generation to generation. My son will fill my role of helping farmers with their grapes after I retire."

Shan said he recently registered a trade mark featuring a sculpture of his own likeness. "I derived my inspiration from Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Harland Sanders. I put my sculpture on the label to make my 'Chuan Lun' brand distinctive from others. It also means that I am always supervising the quality of my grapes. Shoddy work is not allowed."

Shan said he wanted to invent more varieties of grapes to benefit hypertension and nearsighted people. "Health always comes first," he said.